Spatial Planning and High-tech Development - A comparative study of Eindhoven city-region, the Netherlands and Hsinchu City-region, Taiwan

N the past three decades, numerous high-tech city-regions have emerged with the rise of new high-tech industries across the world. Many of them have been specifically supported by national technology policies-in developed or developing countries-implemented to trigger economic growth and to enhance global competitiveness at the national and/or city-regional level. These policies have involved the development of high-tech spaces-including research science/technology parks, innovation centres, science cities, high-tech city-regions, and so on-albeit in different ways.  This issue of A+BE applies a comparative approach to explore the major factors that shape the practices of spatial planning in hightech development.
The Eindhoven city-region in the Netherlands and the Hsinchu city-region in Taiwan are selected as case study areas. Both city-regions can be recognised as success stories of high-tech development not only on a national scale but also on a global scale, despite the fact that they apply different approaches.